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Let's Be Frank: $30 Hot Dog Gets Vendor Canned

By Christopher Coble, Esq. on May 22, 2015 | Last updated on March 21, 2019

A New York City hot dog vendor who thought he was being slick by hiking the prices up on tourists is now out of a job and facing criminal charges.

Ahmed Mohammed was supposed to be charging $3.99 price for two hot dogs and a soda, according to his boss Abdelalim Abdelbaky. But a New Jersey resident accused Mohammed of charging him $30 for a hot dog and drink, and WNBC caught him on video charging a buyer with a French accent $15 for a hot dog and pretzel.

In Hot Water

When New York's finest got heard about Mohammed's hot dog hustle, they were none too happy about it, tweeting out: "What? A $30 hot dog?! We paid him a visit. 3 ECB summonses. #PostYourPrices #WeWillBeBack"

Cops from the 1st Precinct charged Mohammed with three separate city code violations for failing to display prices, displaying items that were not on the cart, and putting the cart too close to the crosswalk. The violations can cost anywhere from $200 to $1,000.

NYPD Police Commissioner Bill Bratton also sounded serious in his defense of the city's millions of annual tourists: "Shame on him ... on that hot dog vendor."

Boss On a Bun

The frank fraud has already cost Mohammed his job, according to Abdelbaky: "I told him the prices and everything before he started ... Then as soon as I saw what had happened I fired him."

It might not have been soon enough though. As the owner of the vendor license, Abdelbaky will probably be on the hook for the hot dog hustle, and all because he was trying to do his friend's brother a favor.

Abdelbaky said gave Mohammed the job because he felt sorry for him. "The guy is not normal," the vendor said. "He has to take medicine. He can't get work anywhere, so I gave him a job."

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